1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel door arrangement for a record medium insertion opening, and more particularly to a door arrangement for opening or closing a record medium insertion opening through which a record medium which is accommodated in a casing of a disk cartridge, a tape cassette or the like is loaded into such an apparatus as a disk player or a tape player.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such an apparatus as a disk player or a tape player normally has a record medium insertion opening formed in a front panel thereof, and a cartridge or a cassette or the like is loaded in position into the apparatus through the insertion opening. Such insertion opening has a size a little greater than a sectional size of a cartridge or the like taken in a widthwise direction. Normally, a door member is provided to close, when no cartridge or the like is loaded in position in the apparatus, the record medium insertion opening to prevent possible admission of dust or the like into the apparatus through the insertion opening.
An exemplary one of conventional door arrangements for a record medium insertion opening is shown in FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B). Referring to FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B), the record medium door arrangement shown is applied to a magneto-optic disk player which includes a recording and reproducing apparatus a having a front panel b in which a horizontally elongated cartridge insertion opening c is formed. The cartridge insertion opening c is formed in a size a little greater than a sectional size of a cartridge d taken in a thicknesswise direction.
If such cartridge d is inserted into the recording and reproducing apparatus a through the cartridge insertion opening c, it is first held by a cartridge holding frame not shown disposed behind the cartridge insertion opening c and then moved down a little by a downward movement of the cartridge holding frame, whereafter a disk not shown therein is chucked in position by a chucking mechanism not shown.
A door member e is disposed so as to cover the cartridge insertion opening c from the rear side. The door member e is in the form of a plate having a size a little greater than the cartridge insertion opening c, and is supported at an upper side edge thereof for pivotal motion on a rear face of the front panel b adjacent an upper edge of the cartridge insertion opening c. The door member e is normally urged to close the cartridge insertion opening c by urging means not shown.
Insertion of a cartridge d into the recording and reproducing apparatus a proceeds in the following manner. In particular, the cartridge d will be moved toward the recording and reproducing apparatus a while it is held substantially in a horizontal condition. Thereupon, a rear side edge of the cartridge d pushes to pivot the door member e rearwardly to open the cartridge insertion opening c to allow the cartridge d to be inserted into the recording and reproducing apparatus a. The cartridge d inserted in the recording and reproducing apparatus a is held and moved down by the cartridge holding frame as seen from FIG. 5(B), and then a disk therein is chucked by the chucking mechanism.
When the cartridge d is inserted into the recording and reproducing apparatus a and held by the cartridge holding frame, a lower free end edge of the door member e lies on a front portion of an upper face of the cartridge d. Then, even after the cartridge holding frame is moved down, although the door member 3 is pivoted back a little in its closing direction, the free end edge of the door member e still lies on the upper face of the cartridge d and the cartridge insertion opening c is kept open.
Accordingly, when a removing operation for the cartridge d is performed, the cartridge d can be removed readily without being disturbed by the door member e. In particular, when the cartridge d is moved up from its chucked position, the door member e is pushed to pivot upwardly by the upper face of the cartridge d, and consequently, the door member e will not disturb removal of the cartridge d through the cartridge insertion opening c.
With such door member e for the cartridge insertion opening c as described above, since the cartridge insertion opening c is kept open while a cartridge d is loaded in position in the recording and reproducing apparatus a, there is a problem that dust or some other foreign articles may be admitted into the recording and reproducing apparatus a.
One of possible solutions to such problem is to form a door member in a size substantially equal to or a little smaller than a cartridge insertion opening and dispose such door member in a suspended condition on an upper longitudinal edge of the cartridge insertion opening.
FIG. 6(A) shows another recording and reproducing apparatus which includes such a door member for a cartridge insertion opening as described just above. Referring to FIG. 6(A), the recording and reproducing apparatus shown is generally denoted at f and includes a door member g having a size substantially equal to or a little smaller than a cartridge insertion opening c. The door member g is supported for forward and rearward pivotal motion around an axis extending along an upper longitudinal edge of the cartridge insertion opening c. The door member g is normally urged by urging means not shown to a closing position in which it closes the cartridge insertion opening c.
When a cartridge d is inserted into the recording and reproducing apparatus f, the door member g for the cartridge insertion opening c is pushed to pivot rearwardly by a rear end portion of the cartridge d to open the cartridge insertion opening c, but after the cartridge d is inserted fully into the recording and reproducing apparatus f, a free end edge of the door member g is disengaged from the cartridge d to allow the door member g to be returned to its closing position by the urging means.
On the other hand, when the cartridge d is removed, a front end portion of the cartridge d pushes to pivot the door member g forwardly to open the cartridge insertion opening c, and after the cartridge d is removed through the cartridge insertion opening c, the door member g is returned to its closing position by the urging means.
With such door member g for the cartridge insertion opening c as described above, whether or not a cartridge d is inserted in the recording and reproducing apparatus f, the cartridge insertion opening c can be held in a closed condition, and consequently, possible admission of dust or some other foreign articles into the recording and reproducing apparatus f can be prevented.
With the door arrangement for a recording and reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, however, in order to allow the door member g to be returned to its closing position after a cartridge d is inserted into the recording and reproducing apparatus f, it is necessary either to draw the cartridge d to a position spaced sufficiently rearwardly away from the front panel b as seen in FIG. 6(B) or to move down the cartridge d to another position at which the cartridge d is spaced away from the free end edge of the door member g as seen in FIG. 6(C). In either case, there is a problem that the recording and reproducing apparatus f must have a size sufficient to allow such rearward or downward movement of a cartridge d.
After all, the door arrangement for a record medium insertion opening shown in FIG. 5(A) is disadvantageous in that, while the distance between a cartridge d in its fully inserted position and the front panel b or the amount of movement of a cartridge d to its chucked position need not be very great and accordingly the recording and reproducing apparatus a is effective in reduction in size, the cartridge insertion opening c is kept in an open condition when a cartridge d is loaded in position in the recording and reproducing apparatus a. On the other hand, the door arrangement for a record medium insertion opening shown in FIG. 6(A) is disadvantageous in that, while the cartridge insertion opening c can be kept in a closed condition whether a cartridge d is loaded in position in the recording and reproducing apparatus f or not, it is not effective in reduction in size.